MHEO 486 Strategic Comm for Health Equity
Health Communication is an emerging field in the health and social sciences whereby health care professionals inform and influence individual, institutional, governmental, and public audiences about health issues for the advancement of health equity outcomes. It includes understanding health communication theory and application as well as the challenges of low health literacy on public health and patient-provider communications. MHEO 486 is a skills-based course that examines and builds upon theoretical foundations and practical applications of interpersonal, organizational, and mass communication relevant to health communications and today’s health care consumer. The course reviews strategies of persuasion and message framing theory in addressing problems related to health inequities among patient populations, along with understanding the role of social justice issues in health settings, the relationship between attitudes and health behaviors, and health promotion and prevention, and various health belief models. Students understand and discuss the importance of structural, economic, social, and other determinants of health in health disparities. They regularly participate in online discussions, interactive case studies, small group work, and the development of a final health communication campaign that addresses a specific problem area related to health disparities, as identified in the literature, and proposes actionable solutions for the betterment of society and the human condition.
Corequisite
Required MHEO-465 and MHEO-470